Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Herrera continues to stand by and do nothing on the CRC Scam.

Folks, she's SAYING MOST of the right things:



....of course, Kiewit, who owns her as her number one campaign contributor, wants a bridge built, no matter what, so they can build it...

But all of that begs the issue: her nonsensical hyperbole notwithstanding, her faux outrage aside...

... WHAT HAS SHE DONE ABOUT ANY OF THIS?

Nothing.

That's right: Jaime Herrera has done and is doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that will make any difference on the CRC Scam.

No bill.

Nothing.

She's had YEARS to nail this thing to the wall... and she's DONE....

Nothing.

Of course, no one watching the vignette above would think that, and Herrera wouldn't have you think it any other way.

But this empty-suited idiot, who dropped a genuinely stupid, do-nothing, DOA-in-the-senate  vanity-bill on the relatively minor in comparison Pearson Museum has shown herself absolutely incapable of taking any ACTION to stop the rip off of the CRC Scam.

Folks, ACTION and RESULTS are the only thing that matter.

Both Don Benton and Ann Rivers have done more in the last 3 months to kill this scam than Herrera has in the last SIX YEARS.

Just sayin'.

Talk is cheap.  It's ACTION and RESULTS that matter:

Herrera has neither.

Another odd editorial from the democratian: In Our View: Keep an Eye on the Governor

A great many words that say practically nothing, offer up no solutions, restating the obvious.

It's what they do.

But what struck me was the basis for this editorial, stolen in large part from an article off the WSW (the Washington State Wire acronym among aficionados) that discusses Inslee's missteps in some depth.

The reason I'm struck by this is to this point, the democratian has completely ignored the fine work done by the Willamette Week and Andrea Damewood and others on the CRC Scam.

It's not that the democratian writers don't read these articles that have laid bare the massive waste, corruption and incompetence of this project, they surely do.  Expose's on the lies, falsities, exaggerations and utter disbelief when it comes to how those in charge of and those actually wasting the money spent on this project have been and will be for the indefinite future, raping the local public.

A Bridge Too False


Turns out most of the case for the $3.6 billion Columbia River Crossing Isn’t true. 

______________________________________ 

Transportation Secretary: Columbia River Crossing Not Designed For Speed

___________________

New Anti-Columbia River Crossing Flyer Adds to Pressure on Wheeler 

___________________

The Woman Behind the Bridge


The force behind Oregon’s massive freeway project works for the governor—and a private company that wants it built.

_______________________________________

The Runaway Bridge Budget


State transportation officials stood by as planning costs for the Interstate 5 Columbia River Crossing ballooned.

______________________________________

Making It Up As They Go


As Kitzhaber pushes the CRC, the plan to pay for it is both fact and fantasy.

_______________________________________

Proposed Mega-Bridge Drifts Toward Gridlock

____________________

"Unacceptable Impacts:" Local Electeds Call for CRC Changes

 ________________________________________

Governors Stiff-Arm Local Pols On CRC: "Project Can't Afford Delays"

There are others, of course, but my personal favorite is:

The $2.5 Billion Bribe

Oregon’s Supreme Court says light-rail politics drove plans for a new I-5 bridge.

Published in February of last year, this story, which includes a link to the actual Supreme Court decision,  lays out in the tiniest detail the history of the rip off that is the CRC Project; the true basis for the entirety of this scam, the only reason, verified by that moron Kitzhaber as to why this project is being built in the first place (loot rail) and how those like Pollard, Tim "The Liar" Leave-it and Steve Stuart bent this community over for this project and, of course, the main reason why the people were not allowed a vote.

That the democratian can pick an article and rely so heavily on what it says, as they did in today's editorial, isn't a "bad" thing and it does show they have that capability.

That they REFUSE to mention most of the information in these and other stories is the thing.

Failing to mention the information provided in most of these stories is simply inexcusable.  Failing to mention the last story, where the Oregon Supreme Court concluded:
But Chief Justice Paul De Muniz, writing for the majority, highlighted an inconvenient set of facts for CRC backers..
He wrote in the Feb. 16 opinion that most of the project—namely the 10-lane freeway bridge and new interchanges—was put forward to get Clark County to agree to the light-rail line.
.
De Muniz cited statements that Metro made in the land-use process and Metro’s lawyer repeated before his court.
.
“It was politically impossible for the light rail project to proceed without also building new interstate bridges across the Columbia River,” De Muniz wrote.
.
“Or as Metro later summarized it: ‘There is no light rail without the freeway bridge[s] being replaced.’”
.
Backers have cited traffic and safety issues as the top reasons to build the CRC. But the court ruling means those and other justifications were created after officials decided to give a sop to Clark County, now worth $2.5 billion.
... is a deliberate "oversight" designed to keep the people of Clark County in the dark as to the real reasons behind this rip off.

Telling this truth would, of course, dramatically increase the opposition to this horrific scam... which, of course, is why the democratian has not mentioned any of this.

Lying.  It's what they do.  And in this case, it's lies of omission.

Imagine how much better off our community will be when this cancer on our community finally, irrevocably, goes under.

Monday, April 29, 2013

MORE rank hypocrisy from the democratian? Worries about polling on gun-control: won't demand a vote on the CRC Scam

I'm not terribly concerned about the efforts to implement obviously unconstitutional law that will be tossed out even if it does pass.  That the democratian is peeing their pants over such an effort is not surprising: after all, as a fringe-left toady publication, their desire to trample on and ignore certain rights is a pattern of abuse stretching back decades.

But their babble today?

Here's the thing: their stupidity on the issue of gun-control aside, the rank hypocrisy of their commentary on the mechanism to implement it in the face of their complete intransigence on the issue of the voters of this county getting a vote on the CRC Scam is enough to force this writer to blow chunks.

The gun-grabber scam they're babbling about will go no where.  The reasons it went no where during the past few months remain fully in play: they won't magically change because this cancer on our community demands it.

Replace the words "gun control in the editorial with "CRC" and then you get the true portrait of their reeking hypocrisy.  Here's a brief rewrite that helps to illustrate the effort.

In Our View: The Issue That Won't Go Away
Reasonable anti-CRC control measures will continue.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Although the Washington Legislature will continue with a special session, one fact already is known about this year’s efforts: 2013 will be remembered as the year our lawmakers killed the CRC.

But we doubt the wave of public concern will wither anytime soon. Any legislators and other local politicians who hope they will no longer be held accountable on this issue are engaged in fantasy. Just as the refusal by Vancouver to act has triggered massive resolve to kill the CRC in the legislature, CRC Scammers also can be expected to resurrect this debate in the next legislative session.

Granted, polls are not in themselves decisive, but in this case they are more than just indicative. Elections in Clark County have REPEATEDLY shown that the people of this community hate this rip off with a passion.  A poll done in the last election saw two CRC advocates, one a two-term incumbent, get slaughtered at the ballot box by candidates who ran almost entirely on killing this scam.  The people of this county have, on at least 3 different occasions, voted against loot rail, but none of that makes any difference to CRC Scammers.

None of that conventional wisdom, though, was reflected in the CRC Scam supporter's efforts to lie their way into getting this scam passed.  With an 78 year long policy in writing in place to ignore the public on this rip off, the idea that this rag would cry fake crocadile tears on a lame, unconstitutional set of gun-grabbing regulations implemented as if the 2nd Amendment was the 2nd Suggestion isn't surprising. 

As The Seattle Times editorialized: “A tally should be public, either in a local vote or at least in a county-wide, up ior down referendum.  But if the scum like Tim "The Liar" Leave-it is unable to lead, the court-ordered vote from the petitioners is a ripe opportunity to advance via a vote.” Therein lies a promising strategy for a public that grows increasingly aggravated with CRC Scammer intransigence, and organizers plan to file suit to force these dillwads to put this to a vote very soon.

How can our democracy thrive when a willful minority can keep dictating to the rest of the county?
The answer is simple. Democracy will thrive because people have long memories, and when so many feel so strongly about a topic, they aren’t likely to just hush up and go away.
See?

It's easy for these scum to demand and support a vote on issues they like.

Not so much when these dregs of the earth oppose the issue.

And that's just one of the many reasons to despise these hypocritical scum.

They turn that "democracy" and "will of the people" scam on and off like a light switch.

And here's a memo, dillwad editorial writers:


Christie completes assassinating his presidential aspirations.

When Christie burst on the scene, I was quite taken with him.

The Fat Man fired back, at anyone or anything that tried the typically leftist crap used today to blow him out of the saddle.

Unions were particularly deserving of his wit: he would trash them and their sculls deftly and with aplomb... typically vignettes of beauty.

But his leftward drift has become a, well, "sprint."  Like many leftists, he doesn't get what "freedom of speech" REALLY means, unless HE is exercising it.

Christie killed the deal by kissing Obama's ass... publicly... post-Sandy.  And his ongoing campaign?

That just slams the coffin door down and nails it shut with a sledgehammer.


Sunday, April 28, 2013

UPDATE: Democratian changes the story - Democratian blows it on transportation budget story: CRC in deep trouble.

The latest version of the democratian's lies does not include mention of their screw up on the tolling authority going back to the commission.

The paragraphs quoted below were in the story and have since been removed.  They must have figured it out.

I almost fell out of my chair when I read this:
The Washington state House this afternoon approved a compromise transportation budget, which includes $81.7 million for the Columbia River Crossing project, as well as allows the state's Transportation Commission to set tolls for the CRC.

....

The transportation spending plan approved by the House would let the state's Transportation Commission set tolls for the CRC. That authority was granted to the commission last year, but Initiative 1185, approved in November, shifted toll-setting authority to legislators instead.
Multiple sources are telling me that while the authority to set tolls for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and Ferry fares were given to the commission, the CRC toll setting authority was not.

So, once again the democratian blew it.

Must not have seen the paper trail.

Well, now we know we know why Herrera supports the CRC Scam: she's been bought.

She's cheap and apparently quite easy.
THE NUMBER ONE donor for Ridgefield Barbie's re-election campaign?
Contributor Amount Donors
1 Kiewit Corp (Corporation) $12,500 3


Kiewit, of course, is a huge, multinational prospective CRC contractor.

So, they bought the Camas Manikin fair and square.

Just don't believe that liar whenever she's trying to get you to think she's fighting for US, when in fact, she's "fighting" for Kiewit... which explains perfectly why that scumbag has done absolutely nothing to spike the CRC Scam.

Any questions?

Does John Laird remind anyone else of Joseph Goebbels or Baghdad Bob?

The writing took place in a Vancouver sewer in 2013.  But, ideologically speaking, the writer was as much a liar as the Nazi Propaganda Minister during the halcyon days of the Third Reich... or during those explosive days of Saddam Hussein's Baghdad Bob.

Thus, here is the column the pit yorkie SHOULD have published:
The governor from across the river getting progressively more desperate.... and progressively more stupid, hoisted his britches, pointed to an easel with a fantasy picture of a bridge that STILL hasn't been designed; ignored all of the other lies the CRC Scammers like Laird have been babbling about for a decade now, and bellowed: "No loot rail, no bridge!  No kidding!"

Lo, the assembled crowd of Scammers erupted into riotous fury.  These people would not be swayed by reality.  Slowly, the shouting subsided and self-appointed leaders Jim "Moelhill" Moeller, aided by Tim "The Liar" Leave-it, Annette "Liar" Cleveland, Paul "Identity Vancouver" Montague and Kelly "Chamber of Horrors" Parker rose to proclaim:  "Forget all those lies we've been babbling about 'safety, earthquakes, freight mobility' and 'congestion.'  None of those lies matter.  That's just the smoke and mirrors we've been using to sell this community out to TriMet and to convince the ignorant and the stupid that we actually need this steaming pile..  No loot rail?  Then NO BRIDGE."

Harrumps echoed around the dimly lit union hall.  Urged on by his friends and still channeling Mussolini, Moelhill and the other lying scum continued to babble:  "It doesn't matter that we've been lying for years and that the corruption, incompetence and rot of this project or about how everyone shilling for this crap generally but the newspaper in particular has lied their ass off for so long they wouldn't know the truth if it bit them.  PLEASE bend us over and ram it where the sun don't shine!" said the expert in the field.

The governor from Olympia braced himself and said, "you know, I'm new around here but I've learned a valuable lesson: even those who are supposed to be working for me have no problem lying to my face to suck me in on this scam."

A fuming newspaper editor from Texas would have none of that.  "We don't care about the details or how badly this rip off will damage the community OR how much we have to lie, omit, exaggerate and attack the opposition to get this scam built."

The governor growled from his taxpayer-paid junket with his girlfriend to Bhutan, "Because it's not YOUR bridge, Jay. There are two sides to this river, and even though you morons in Clark County are going to have to pay billions in tolls for 40 years, my side has quadruple the population of your side, and we're saying no loot rail, no bridge."

The editor's rage intensified: "There you go again, Mr. Fancy Pants Oregon Governor, telling us how to run Clark County, even though no one over here elected you to squat!  Please bend us over by threatening us and ignoring all the lies we've been telling for so long about why we REALLY want this rip off built!"

The governor shot back, "Maybe if you ever got out of Vancouver you might see how the rest of the world lives. Other cities welcome progress with open arms, although if other cities had this much corruption in their process, we'd all be swinging from the nearest lamp posts."

"Look," said the entire community in a variety of ways," we don't want your rip off, we don't want tolls, we don't want loot rail.... but you CRC Scammers have NEVER listened to us because you're afraid what WE want will conflict with what YOU want."

The governor, doing his best Hitler, tried to reason with them:  "Since when does it matter WHAT you people want?  In fact, you don't even KNOW what you want.  Just ignore the Oregon State Supreme Court decision that exposed the lies at to why we're trying to build this rip off, a fact that I confirmed by throwing my hissy fit via press release a few days back."

The Commissioner replied: "but how can I open the floodgate of jobs with the CRC's foot on a $100,000,000 a year for the next 40+ years, strangling the small business dependent on that disposable income?"

He was greeted by silence.  You could hear a pin not only hit the floor, you could hear it fall through the air... until the cacophony of crickets drowned out every other sound.

The governor leaned over and carefully enunciated, "we're from across the river, and we don't give a damn what happens to you people.   I mean, that's obvious since we've been lying about safety all these years and now we're trading loot rail for that very safety we've been lying about."

Tim "The Liar" Leave-it, who ran on a campaign of "OPPOSING" tolls, started hopping up and down: "When can we start tolling?  When can we start tolling?"

The governor sighed: "You got any better ideas on how to pay for the bridge?"

"Yeah," said the people of Clark County.  "As a matter of fact, we do."

"As you stupidly pointed out to us," the people said, "it's not OUR bridge.  Yet YOU expect US to PAY for it.  Frankly, it's scary that anyone elected you dog-catcher.  If this is a FEDERAL project, than FEDERAL dollars should pay for ALL of it, if it has to be built it all.  But of course, your constant drumbeat of lies notwithstanding, it shouldn't BE built.  Period.

And, since you clowns couldn't plan a tree house and you've made $170 million of the $400 million or so you WANT to waste on "planning" vaporize without turning a shovel full of dirt, your proven incompetence by itself should kill this deal. Since you asked."

The now-squirming CRC Scammers babbled, "but our experts say we're on top of this and we should just ignore the concerns and demands of the people who would use and pay for this rip off."

"Your expert is paid by the your fellow CRC Scammers," the people replied. "What did you expect?"

Happily, in the senate, these meetings accomplished a great deal.  They served to galvanize opposition and the decision has been made to kill this scam which will certainly be entertaining as CRC Scammer heads explode all over the region.

This corruptive, rotten rip off was finally and irrevocably dropped in it's tracks, crushing CRC Scammer political careers and ending the massive waste of time, effort and energy this has been from the beginning... and loot rail was killed.

A century later, Clark County was doing just fine without it.

And in a way, the people were right.  Stopping this rip off sent a message to the arrogant scum who did everything they could, everything imaginable, to ram this garbage down the throats of the community they were SUPPOSED to serve.  But the people rebelled, because once your community is damaged by this kind of corruption, life is never the same.
This is the column that little worm who is leaving the rag (Thank God) SHOULD have written.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

More lies from Jamie Herrera.

Most don't know what I know:

That our congresswoman completely favors the CRC Scam.

How do I know that?

Simple: ask yourself:

"What has Jaime Herrera done to stop the CRC?"

Absolutely nothing.

So, when I see this tripe in the paper, I literally want to blow chunks.
"The people are the bosses and government agencies work as servants -- not the other way around," Herrera Beutler said.
The 3rd District representative said she is working to hold government in line on important issues like the Columbia River Crossing project.
"I had Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in front of me, and we are being told by him and many others that we have to accept this project as it is," Herrera Beutler said. "I don't take my marching orders from secretaries in D.C. I take my orders from people here."
Really?

Then why do you support replacing the bridge?

Why do you support tolls?

Why haven't you dropped legislation to get rid of loot rail?  it's not like you don't know how: you screwed up royally with your moronic, grandstanding play on the Pearson Museum... and how'd that work out for you?

The fact is that Herrera should not have even been invited to this soiree.

You remember that our local GOP rightfully sanctioned Marc Boldt for his slavish support of the CRC Scam.

No support.  No money.  Not even a mention in the CCRP website.

So, what does our cardboard cutout do?

She endorses Boldt, a slap in the face of the entire GOP organization here locally.

I get that she owes Marc, since Boldt is the one who did Cathy McMorris a favor and quietly arranged to get Herrera the appointment that launched her stunningly worthless political career.  But to reward her with an appearance at the Lincoln Day Dinner?

Th3ere's no excuse for that.

So, when Herrera lies, like she did tonight, part of that is the local GOP's fault.  Because they countenance that sort of thing by refusing to accept the reality: Herrera is completely in the tank for the CRC Scam because frankly, although she's had 3 years to do so, she's done absolutely nothing to stop it.

Today's quiz question: Why would a Portland Police car blast throught the intersection of 117th (SR503) and 76th at 7:23 pm tonight?

Enquiring minds would like to know:

Why was a Portland Police car over here; why did it have it's lights and siren on, and why did it blow through an intersection southbound towards SR 500 against a red light at 19:23 tonight?

(Seen from inside the Shari's at the Fred Meyer parking lot)

Seems like some thing's wrong about that.


Friday, April 26, 2013

More idiocy on the CRC Scam from Rep. Jim "Molehill" Moeller and Sen. Annette "Liar" Cleveland (Communist - 49)

It's tough, apparently, to live in a delusion.  The CRC is dead.  And the dead are rarely bargaining chips.

Two clueless morons from the 49th actually believe they can ignore the will of the people of this county while ignoring the fact that 4 of the 5 senators representing us, including the Senate Transportation Co-Chair, hate this rip off with a passion.  They act like this fact doesn't exist... like they're in some sort of parallel universe.

The entire point of this program is to rip the CRC to shreds entirely so the federal funding, which our clueless moron of a congresswoman SHOULD have stopped years ago, vaporizes and kills this project; finally, irrevocably and permanently.

Molehill and Liar know this: they also know that Kitzhaber foolishly executed his own program by laying bare the obviously false claims that this is about safety, or earthquakes, or congestion or freight mobility... since to him, the ONLY reason to build this crap pile is to get loot rail into Clark County.

The democratian knows this as well.  Why they would publish this knowingly false tripe just fits into their years-long pattern of lies, distortions and exaggerations..

As legislators debate their budgets, CRC could be bargaining chip



By Lucas Wiseman The Columbian/Murrow News Service
OLYMPIA — With only three days until the end of the regular legislative session, one party on Thursday declared its work completed, while the other said only half the work has been done.
“As of today, the Majority Coalition Caucus has completed its business, and is waiting on the House,” said Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, speaking for his Republican-led coalition at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
The statement made Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, laugh. Both parties in the Legislature have introduced their budgets, and now it’s time for everyone to work on a compromise, he said.
Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, agreed that nobody’s work is done at this point.
“You don’t get to say ‘We did our budget, now we’re done’ without working on a compromise between the two plans,” Cleveland said.
The Senate coalition’s operating budget, approved by nine Democrats and 23 Republicans, proposes roughly $1.2 billion in cuts, while the House plan raises $900 million in new revenue by closing tax loopholes and making temporary tax breaks permanent.
“We simply don’t need new taxes to do the work of the people, our budget has shown that,” Benton said, criticizing the House Democrats’ plan.
 More:

Another counter-productive, smarmy idiotic editorial from the Oregonian.

When this deal gets killed here in the next few days, are these people going to go up in smoke like a bunch of self-ignited IED's?

Even after Kitzhaber fired a howitzer through the brain of this project by proving everything the CRC Scammers were saying about this rip off is a lie and that it was ENTIRELY a loot rail project and nothing more, scum like the Oregonian Editorial Board crap out garbage like this.

It's almost like that Scumbag Molehill wrote this tripe, another series of lie after lie after lie.

Here's a clue, O: if we need your advice, we'll ask for it.  Otherwise, shut the fuck up.

Hey, Olympia: Suck it up and help build the CRC

 
The Oregonian Editorial BoardBy The Oregonian Editorial Board  Follow on Twitter 
on April 25, 2013 at 4:46 PM, updated April 25, 2013 at 5:33 PM

lahood.JPG
View full sizeEarlier this month in Olympia, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, emphasized the need for Washington legislators to fund the CRC. He was accompanied by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
Hey, Olympia: Suck it up. 

It's time to look beyond the late-coming doubters of theColumbia River Crossing, the vocal minority in Vancouver that irrationally fears the arrival of Portland crime via light rail, the few who insist the CRC will bankrupt two states and kill jobs and leave Clark County in hollow ruin.

It's also time to ignore the righteous self-celebrations of a Vancouver senator who this month posted on his website that he and others handed U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood his hat -- this after LaHood traveled to Olympia to underscore the economic importance to the region of building the CRC and to note the U.S. stood ready to pay at least $750 million of the costs.

Olympia, it's time to listen to your new and smart governor, Jay Inslee, and pony up your share. 

We recognize money challenges of the day. Transportation infrastructure is needy across Washington. Public schools throughout the state must receive more support, per court order. And yet Washington's budget, barring new sources of revenue, bleeds. 

But the CRC is an integral part of the economic engine driving Northwest life. 

Read: Jobs. 

At first, in construction. Then, down the line, in industries and businesses here and around the Puget Sound that depend on the timely movement of freight. And, significantly, in the thousands of commuters now struggling to get to work and return home on time in cars aimed at both Portland and Vancouver. 

The present spans lack the capacity to do the job. They are seismically unsafe. And their narrowed lanes are implicated in a high incidence of accidents.



































More, if you've got a strong stomach.

That these scumbags would ever even use the word "smart" and "governor" in the same sentence to describe Inslee shows how monumentally ignorant these asswipes are, how there's no lie they won't keep repeating and how they shouldn't be let out in public without keepers.

Continuing to print this series of lies while engaging in personal attacks against one of the key players on the senate transportation committee accurately mirrors the stupidity exhibited by that slimeball governor of Oregon when he shotgunned this project with no difficulty a few short days ago, not swayed by ANY of the lies in this editorial, save the demand that loot rail be included... or no deal.

The slimeballs writing this bullshit had BETTER get used to this fact: it ain't happenin'.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Another sickening effort by the CRC Scammers to the senate...

What a pile.

More idiocy from the democratian: Balance Field for Sales Taxes. Like a sales tax on newspapers, you mean?

The fundamental flaw in the taxing of internet sales as opposed to what brick and mortar establishments have to pay is this: nothing is stopping the brick and mortar establishments from developing their own internet presence.  Those who decide NOT to do that (thus deciding not to take advantage of this exemption) are making a conscious decision to do so.

And I am sick of paying for the decisions that others make.

We already know the slime running the democratian advocated a decrease in their B&O tax while ours was increased to help make up for that.  And now, they advocate a "balanced field" for sales taxes... so if we buy something from, say, California, over the internet (a federal transaction because it crosses state lines) then we should have to pay Washington Sales tax, even though the transaction didn't take place here.

Really?

Then, does that mean the democratian wants to get rid of their sales tax exemption as well?

After all, balance SHOULD require ALL retailers to pay the sales tax... shouldn't they?  And we all knew that the democratian doesn't have to PAY sales tax... didn't we?

Hypocrites.

In Our View: Balance Field for Sales Taxes

Marketplace Fairness Act makes mild progress in Senate

Members of Congress love to affix euphemistic titles to their bills. Any day now we expect the "Survival of the Human Species Act" to be brought before lawmakers. But in contrast to that trend, the Marketplace Fairness Act is as accurate as it is succinct.This business-friendly bill would level the playing field by allowing states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes. Currently, brick-and-mortar businesses must do so, but their Internet competitors enjoy an unfair advantage. On Monday, the Senate voted 74 to 20 to take up the bill and could take a formal vote soon. That's good news not only for Washington state businesses, but for the state government.
One of the supporters of House Bill 684 is U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, who happens to be a former director of the state Department of Revenue. That department estimates passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act would bring in about $284 million to the state in 2013-15 and about $845 million in 2015-2017. If that increase looks overly optimistic, keep in mind that online sales soared last year to $226 billion nationally (almost 16 percent higher than 2011). Included in the 2015-2017 revenue would be an estimated $278 million for cities and counties.
To be clear, this is not a new tax. It's a tax that goes largely uncollected because of the unfair loophole. One of the great ironies in this issue is that many states with both state sales taxes and state income taxes require residents to pay the former when they file returns for the latter. That's pretty much a joke, though. "I do know about three people that comply with that," Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said in a recent Associated Press story.
Enzi is among 11 Senate Republicans who joined 22 Democrats to sponsor the Senate bill. A similar House bill lists 24 Republican sponsors and 39 Democratic sponsors. We urge U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, to join the list of sponsors. Contacted Wednesday, Herrera Beutler said she was undecided: "The argument of fairness made by brick-and-mortar retailers resonates with me, but I can also understand the difficulty for Internet retailers in complying with so many different sales tax jurisdictions. I would very much like to hear more from the people of Southwest Washington. My vote would be based on whether this is best for the families in my district, so receiving different points of view from the region will be valuable."
More:

As the CRC Scam circles the drain for the final time, whatever is Tim "The Liar" Leave-it going to do?

As this thing finally dies, almost $200 million too late, we can expect to see a lot more of this, I'm thinking:


We saw it during his last campaign, we'll see it during his next.campaign.... particularly as his opponent holds him accountable for wasting tens of millions of dollars as mayor while employed by a CRC contractor.

He'll do everything BUT admit responsibility for his efforts on this rip off.

Just sayin'.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Did communist state Rep. Jimmy "Molehill" Moeller call someone ELSE "arrogant?"

Why yes... yes our local scumbag did.

Jim Moeller ·  Top Commenter
You have to hand it to Sen. Benton for his arrogance! You'd think that by being reelected by only 76 votes would put just the tinyest bit of humility in him but not so. He acts like he has a mandate from the voters to kill the project and treats our partner's governor (Oregon) like a piker! He believes he's in charge of the design instead of ythe professionals or that this bridge is a compromise between two states and the federal government. Not unheard of though, he tried the same when Secretary LaHood flew 2500 miles to speak with our governor and key Senators (but they insisted on a meeting with the whole Republican Causus) because he thought enough of this project. 

The project is before us. There is an agreement between the two states and the federal government. Any redesign that removes LTR puts us back at the end of the line for federal funding delaying the project for at least a decade or longer and the LTR money goes to another city like Dallas or Atlanta. It's time to move forward! It's time to build that bridge!

The bridge, of course was assassinated today by Kitzhaber's idiocy.

But for a genuinely arrogant asshole like Jimmy "Molehill" Moeller to call someone ELSE arrogant?

Wow.  That's... bizarre.

It sucks for Jimmy that Kitzhaber's left his dumb ass hanging out like that, but that just shows there's no honor among thieves.

And what Jimazoid doesn't get is that Kitzhaber said EXACTLY what we want.

Kill this entire project.

Now.

And if it pisses off morons like Moeller and Montague and Parker and Stuart and Leave-it?

Well, so much the better.

Kitzhaber is obviously confused. What happened to "safety?"

Talk about sheer stupidity.  And here I thought Inslee was an idiot.

Babbling the EXACT wrong thing at PRECISELY the wrong time, Oregon's "just want to live with her" Governor threatens to kill the CRC Scam if there's no loot rail on it.

Gee.  What a surprise.

So, all of the OTHER alleged "reasons" to replace this bridge have just been proven to be a lie by Oregon's Governor.

Well DONE!

I guess it's not about "safety."

It looks like it's not about "earthquakes."

Doesn't seem to be about "freight mobility" (Man, I bet Fred Meyers and the trucking companies supporting this idiocy feel stupid NOW. eh?)

And it's certainly not about "congestion," is it?

So, what's it about?

Looks like it's about loot rail to me.

See, he's GOT to say that because when loot rail is taken off the scam, then the deal... the "we have to give Vancouver a new bridge as a condition to get loot rail into Clark County" deal... falls apart.

Here's the thing, gov: we don't care.

You want to kill the bridge if we're smart enough to trash loot rail?

Swell.

I'm down with that.

Go ahead.  We'll live.

Politically, they'll be a bunch of folks on this side of the Big Water who are likely to be rolled over because they were instrumental in wasting the better part of $200 million... but hey, no skin off YOUR nose... right, Governor?

 Go ahead.  I double-dog dare ya, you putz.

Kitzhaber: Without light rail, new span across Columbia is history

Comments come as Washington Legislature considers project funding

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's office says a proposed $3.4 billion Columbia River Bridge will die if Washington state tries to remove light rail from the project.
The fantasy view of the CRC Scam that was never going to look like this to begin with.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's office says a proposed $3.4 billion Columbia River Bridge will die if Washington state tries to remove light rail from the project.




Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber

OLYMPIA — Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's office says a proposed $3.4 billion Columbia River Bridge will die if Washington state tries to remove light rail from the project.

"Governor Kitzhaber has been clear from the start: No light rail. No project. No kidding," Tim Raphael, a spokesman for Kitzhaber, said in a statement released Monday.

The Interstate 5 bridge between Vancouver and Portland has been in the works for years, and its fate appears to largely rest on whether Washington state agrees to put up $450 million as its share of the cost.

Democrats support the move, but the GOP-controlled majority in the state Senate has said it will reject any bridge proposal containing light rail.

The comments from Kitzhaber's office came as the Washington Legislature nears the end of its 105-day regular session. There's growing talk by lawmakers of going into a special session because of a wide gulf between House and Senate operating budget proposals.

House Transportation Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, said it's possible, but unlikely, that the Legislature will act on an $8.4 billion transportation tax package before the session ends Sunday. The proposal includes money for the Columbia River project.

More:
It takes a special kind of stupid to inadvertently verify everything the opponents have been saying while undercutting your supporters.

All the arguments for this have just been dumped into the laps of the CRC Scammers.  Because if ANY of them were true... then loot rail wouldn't be the deal breaker.

But then, the supporters have been a special kind of stupid as it is, so I guess it serves them right.

So, I was watching Senate transportation yesterday...

I saw the same, local, typically lying scum show up, saying the same falsehoods by rote; nothing anyone in opposition has said or will say ever made any difference to any of the CRC Scammers.

Paul "Identity Vancouver" Montague, who knows, because I READ to him, the section of the Oregon Supreme Court decision that laid it all out (There was no word that came out of his mouth that he wasn't lying about)... Kelly "Chamber of Horrors" Parker, Walt "I don't live anywhere near here" Keeny, a new CRC Scammer brought in by Identity Vancouver...    Union scum rolled up and groveled with their lies: Ed Barnes, chief among them.  It was their usual garbage... their usual shit.

Fortunately, as much as these 3 lied... and that was a great deal... it won't do them any good.

Period.

I have to admit, listening to these scum repeat the same lies, over and over again, bored me to tears... and I was, quite honestly disgusted with their testimony.

Larry Pursley of the Washington State Truckers Association, drove another stake though the CRC Scammers heart, for which we should all be grateful.

This entire fraud has been a shame... a crying shame.  A HUGE missed opportunity.  What should have been a responsive, open process; instead a colossal waste of tens of millions of dollars that will accomplish nothing except greater distrust of those who are SUPPOSED to be looking out for us who have, instead, decided to bend us all over and screw us.

Why the CRC Scammers have fallen in love with loot rail is anyone's guess.  But as we all know, the ENTIRETY of this massive rip off has boiled down to loot rail and nothing BUT loot rail.

Recent admissions from Scammers as high as the US Secretary of Transportation down to the latest scam figures from the CRC itself: this has nothing to do with congestion.

This has nothing to do freight mobility, since completion of this massive waste of money provides none.

This has nothing to do with the fake earthquake scam scares.

It's only light rail,.  It's always only been light rail.

And now, it's circling the drain... thank God.

As for the "bored to tears" line, that was, in fact, from that scumbag representing the 49th in the House, Jim "Molehill" Moeller, who was responding so thoughtfully to those opposing his efforts to rip us off for generations to come.

When democrats lose their fricking minds: Harry Reid version.

Stunning idiocy that this idiot Reid just babbled.


"Most of the headlines are focused on the hours the sequester has cost travelers in airports across the nation. The frustration and the economic effects of those delays should not be minimized. But the sequester could also cost this country – and humankind – a cure for AIDS or Parkinson’s disease or cancer."

---- Sen. Harry Reid
"Most of the headlines are focused on the hours the sequester has cost travelers in airports across the nation. The frustration and the economic effects of those delays should not be minimized. But the sequester could also cost this country – and humankind – a cure for AIDS or Parkinson’s disease or cancer."

---- Sen. Harry Reid

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Looking over the finally-provided cross tabs on the CRC Scam poll.

First, here was my prediction:
See, here's a brief look at the possible outcomes:

1.  It comes back "the people hate it."

Does anyone believe for one moment that these clowns are going to change their positions?

Of course not.

When a position is based on an agenda and their every effort has been to denigrate and belittle those opposed to that agenda, what are chances that any of this will make any difference?

Something less than zero.

They'll excuse it.  They might not even print it.  Or, they'll cherry-pick it.

They'll put out the parts they like and sit on the parts they don't like.

But it will change absolutely nothing with these clowns.

2.  It'll come back roughly even.

If the poll shows that their position is supported by even ONE person, these people will act like it's a crushing defeat of the anti-side.

If the poll comes back where the anti-side wins narrowly, this rag will find any way possible to claim it's ahem, you guessed it, as a crushing defeat for the anti-side.

3.  It comes back "the people love it."

As unlikely as any honest poll will return such a result is, you can then expect a massive, full court press against the legislators fighting this rip off to get them to change their minds, much like the massive, full court press going on in Olympia now.

The problem is one of credibility: this newspaper has lied about so many things they wanted... from the Pollard Hilton, to the Ballpark Scam, to the CRC rip off... that how can they be believed no matter WHAT their per-ordained findings are?
Tidbits the rag left out include those I addressed in #1, above:  The people hate it:

here's one I haven't seen anywhere:
12.1 NEW I-5 BRIDGE VS. 3RD BRIDGE.

New I-5 Bridge:   153

Third Bridge:   164
Odd that.  We're told all about the other stuff, particularly when it goes the democratians way.

But this tidbit, where more people want an additional bridge than want the laughingly refer to "locally preferred option" seems to have fallen off their radar screen.

This, combined with the 87% who want a vote 
11.1 SHOULD CLARK CO. RESIDENTS BE ALLOWED TO VOTE ON COL. RIV. CROSSING?

Total yes, shld be:   350

Total no, shld not be:  41
(That we're also not hearing about) on this should cause this project to be burned to the ground.

Note that this poll did NOT include just registered voters: any adult could have responded, and 13% of the respondensts, in fact, were not registered to vote, coincidentally, almost exactly the same figures of those who would demand a county-wide vote.
17.1 Are you registered to vote in Clark County, or not?

No/don't know:   51 (13%)

Yes                    340  (87%)
Those babbling about Washougal taking a position would be wise to understand this:
2.1 SUPPORT OR OPPOSE THE COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING?

tot.support:  5 (29%)

tot. oppose: 12 (71%)
This is the result of the polling that took place within the Washougal zip code (98671).

Just sayin'.

The democratian inadvertently sums up the CRC Scam.

As part of their wasting-time-on-a-dead-CRC-Scam campaign, the democratian jacked the decibels again today, foolishly for them but amazingly for us, summing up the entirety of this rip-off from start to finish in a single paragraph.
Like many political events, this was a carefully orchestrated affair.(referring to the first paragraph: "Gov. Jay Inslee entered a meeting room at the Vancouver Community Library to a standing ovation. About two dozen local politicians and business leaders cheerfully shook hands with the new governor as he made his way to the head of the table. The applause continued until Inslee took his seat.")  Inslee had summoned a hand-picked group of supporters to make their case for the megaproject during a “business roundtable.” Inslee, a strong supporter of the CRC’s $3.4 billion plan to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge, spoke like a man putting his clout into a fight he knows isn’t won. At one point, he urged people to use sheer political force as the years long debate around the project reaches a climax.
It was a "carefully orchestrated affair."

Precisely like the entirety of the CRC Scam in the first place: the plan they're doing their best to ram down our throats was the only plan considered.  Period. since the entire basis for this scam was to stuff loot rail down Clark County's collective throat.

The CRC has always been a "carefully orchestrated affair,"

Since public input has resulted in zero design or other implementation changes because of the CRC POLICY of minimizing and ignoring public input.

It was a "carefully orchestrated affair" where Governor Moron preached to a tiny choir, ignored anyone not supporting his agenda, and received fawning lamestream media coverage that parenthetically served to point our the idiocy of this entire project...

It was a "carefully orchestrated affair" designed to keep the opposing public out and at bay... because Governor Moron doesn't want to hear it from anyone who doesn't think (if you can call it that) like he does.

Here's the problem: Inslee has no clout to throw.

As governors go, this clown is as dumb as a box of rocks.  Nothing galvanized Senate opposition more than bringing in Obama lackey Ray LaHood, as if the Majority Caucus would just swoon that a lame duck (LaHood announced he's leaving three months ago) transportation secretary came in to babble disproven CRC Lies, offering nothing new, and nothing not known, while ignoring the multiples of reasons why this rip off should not happen.

Sources tell me that he's personally lobbying Senators who realize that he's got nothing, and who are not moved by his appeal.

In the end, the more involved he gets in this scam, the greater the weight of yet ANOTHER crushing political defeat for this faux governor in a clown suit.   (How'd his gun control scam work out?)

This is a fight he should have stayed out of, because it's a fight he is going to lose.  And part of the reason he's going to lose it is because those shooting off their collective mouths the most: the communist liars representing the 49th District, Tim "THE Liar" Leave-it, Paul "Identity Vancouver" Montague and the like have been shown to BE liars over and over and over again.

Now, Inslee gets lumped in with them: not because this community needs this scam; on the contrary, this rip off would accomplish nothing while delivering a crushing blow to the businesses who exist on the disposable income that tolls will vaporize if this crap pile moves forward... 45 years or so of ever-increasing tolls to gain a few seconds off the commute... not to mention that the entirety of this program is nothing more than a scam to get loot rail into Clark County.

But because these clowns could give Goebbels lessons on lying.  They are a classroom example of an effort to get people to believe something by repeating lies over and over and ov3er again, while deliberately ignoring those in the opposition, Rule 5'ing them as much as possible and doing anything and everything they can to get this crap pile built.

Inslee is becoming the local version of Obama: you know he's lying because his lips are moving.  And by this time next week, the entire state is going to know how worthless he really is... and how much of a joke the CRC Scam has turned out to be.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Briggs jumps back into the idiot zone: actually believes Lou Brancaccio has "professionalism" and "integrity."

Every once in awhile, a fringe-leftist moron happens along who share's that Molehill-like arrogance and cowardice so indicative of their ilk.

The CRC Scammers are rife with that kind of scum; they lie at the drop of a hat, no fact or series of facts will sway them from their idiotic "conclusions."

Mike Briggs, faux leftist candidate that Washougal specifically and SW Washington generally is unlucky enough to have amongst them, is just such a putz.

Briggs, who knows nothing about politics, has an arrogance level that may even exceed that of the Mussolinian-like Jim Moeller... if that's possible.

He demands, for example, that those representing him in the legislature (Who also happen to be representing me, I might add) should ignore the obvious majority of their constituents and just do what he, Briggs, wants.

Like most of the ignorant, Briggs wants to rape the people of Clark County's checkbook for the next few generations to get a rip-off project that HE wants built... only, apparently, because he's stupid enough to want it.

Lou Brancaccio, the Pinocchio running the cancer on our community shares that view.  Like Briggs, there is no lie, exaggeration, or fact that he will ignore to get this crap pile built.

So, what did Briggs write in the comments section of the grand announcement that the rag is FINALLY going to do what it SHOULD have done when they wasted everyone's time with their bogus poll?
Mike Briggs ·  Top Commenter · Freelance Writer at Freelance Writer
If you did this on your own accord Mr. Brancaccio, bravo. If you felt pressured to do this from others... I guess this is your call too. Personally for me, I prefer to rely on your professionalism and your integrity to know your scientific poll was conducted honestly and fairly.

In so many ways, and on so many days, Brancaccio has proven beyond any doubt that he has neither.

There's a reason Scott Campbell finally had enough and ordered Brancaccio to take his apology tour or get fired.

But to those of dull-normal intelligence like Briggs... a proven liar and manipulator like Brancaccio has "professionalism" and "integrity" ONLY because they share the same fringe-left view.

This is an early effort by Briggs to wear out a set of kneepads in front of Brancaccio in hopes that when he decides to run for something, Brancaccio will return the favor.

As for me, perhaps they should just get a hotel room and be done with it.

CRC Scammers: they just think we're stupid.

The "DiVide" scam the democratian's running... why are they bothering?

They start with putting out what everyone knew was going to be ANOTHER slanted, biased, self-serving poll (Where are those cross-tabs, again?) that does NOT support their side of this issue; they completely ignore the most damning number that even THEY came up with (87% want this put to a vote... EIGHTY SEVEN PERCENT)  and they don't even talk about it now...

They focus on a regiment of CRC Scammers: the usual, typically lying suspects.  Today's effort is mouth-pieced by Brian Wolfe, one of the morons behind the disastrous Port Levy idiocy that, unfortunately, only claimed Arch Miller as it's only victim, when Brian Wolfe should have been buried when he came up as well.

And that's the thing: you get leftist whack jobs like anyone elected to the 49th District generally by asswipe scuzball Jim "Molehill" Moeller shooting off his mouth with lie, after lie, upon lie; and then you segue to an equally fringe left tax and spender that wanted to screw the people of this region as if he was a clone of Moeller on the Port Commission.

His choice tidbits?

The bizarre idea that we are all going to die, economically, if billions aren't wasted on the CRC Scam and that the small businesses that depend on the ever-increasing toll money they fantasize over  won't even notice that giant, 45 year year sucking sound of hundreds of millions of additional dollars vaporizing out of our local economy instead of being spent on pizza, movies, books, athletics, community events and the like will not be crushed by this idiocy defies reality.

The rag's take:
He and others who’ve steered the county’s growth strategy for decades are under fire by critics girding to capsize their priorities.
And how great of a job has Wolfe and "others" done "steering the county's growth strategy?"

They lie about what this project is.  They lie about who is going to pay for it.

They lie about the number of jobs, temporary as they are, that will result from this rip off.

And then this stupidity from the rag:
But the vision of project opponents for solving Clark County’s chronic transportation problems is less clear — express buses, perhaps, or a third Columbia River bridge that nobody in control of transportation purse strings is even talking about.
 If this despicable rag would even acknowledge the truth of the matter: that the entirety of this rip off was and remains the plan to get the fungus of Portland Loot Rail into Clark County, then the issue of WHY "nobody in control of transportation purse strings is even talking about" the obviously and far more urgently needed 3rd and 4th bridges would be the most obvious aspect of all of this.

CRC Scammers like the democratian have obviously lies through omission about this issue: the Oregon Supreme Court was very clear that loot rail is the ONLY reason for this scam, yet that waste of wood pulp has refused to ever acknowledge that fact.

We all know why: to acknowledge the truth would destroy the entirety of this plan.

These same idiots who believe themselves (quite wrongfully, as it turns out) to be superior to those they allegedly work for, want us to turn a blind eye to their corruption, their lies, their policy of ignoring us and just sign on the dotted line.

I have been saying for years that the policy to ignore the people would prove disastrous to these scum at some point, and now , the worm appears to have fully turned as this thing is under peels of the death-knell bell.

In fact, here's some footage after the last CTran meeting:




The playground idiocy that anyone is exhibiting by saying, "oh, well, hell, we know the plan is worthless, that we've wasted tens of millions on a  design that the Coast Guard has, and will continue by the way, to reject at the rate of $4 million per month, but you suckers should just shut up, do what you're told and pay for it anyway" is just that: idiocy.

To suggest such a thing is to suggest that those running the CRC Scam totally believe us to be stupid.  We're not serfs, here.  This isn't the Kingdom of CRC Scammers.

There is NO OTHER ELEMENT IN EITHER GOVERNMENT OR PERSONAL LIFE WHERE SUCH STUPIDITY WOULD BE TOLERATED.

This plan, which these scum have been shilling for a decade WITHOUT ANY IDEA WHAT THE FINAL PLAN WOULD EVEN LOOK LIKE, DOES HAVE TO BE PERFECT.

That's right: it has to be perfect.

When this agony is over, were this to ever have been built, it MUST make billions of dollars worth of difference.  Even the CRC acknowledges that once built, the only "benefit" for these billions will be a 60 second reduction to the commute time.

Of course, that moron LaHood has acknowledged that this isn't being built for speed.

But if it isn't, then why do the CRC Scum keep telling us that "congestion relief" is one of the main reasons for this?

And given the CRC-listed out comes... at this point, those shilling this crap should be shot.

Politically, of course.

The cumulative effect of this rip off is to hurt this community for generations to pay for a project that will only accomplish it's single goal, a goal that no one wants: the spreading of that transportation venereal disease known as light rail.

CRUDEC is a non-player in this scam, they cheer-lead for this idiocy, but as a charter member of the Downtown Mafia, that sort of thing is to be expected. That it's even mentioned in this propaganda is a waste of paper.

Their support of the CRC Scam makes them worthless and causes their judgement on every other issue to come into question: if they're so moronic that they'd support the extortion of the CRC Scam, then what other kinds of idiocy are they supporting?

In short: why do we need them?

We don't.

That Wolfe "sees" this if the Scam is built:
a sturdier bridge, faster freight movement, a stronger regional mass transit system to serve future generations.
Shows that he's unfit for elective office.

The monumental costs of this scam, considering the fact that once built, there are NO tangible benefits to our community shows he's just another clueless idiot that we can all be ashamed was ever elected to dog-catcher.

There's nothing here to justify the expenditure on one thin dime.

And THAT is where the problem lies: they're pissing on our legs and trying to call it rain.

We know better.  And this Scam is over as a result.